Poole D 2 – 2 Ringwood B

With such an out grading, it was fortunate for our result that board 4 for Ringwood wasn’t about to make it due to bird troubles, but would have preferred Dave L to get a game. You may notice some tributes to this absent opponent spread like droppings through this report.

First to finish was Tarik against the very able Pete Donaldson. It was always going to be a tough game and after Pete had control of the centre it was very difficult to knock him off that perch. It wasn’t long before the Queen swooped in to the central fort and started picking off any chance of a result for Poole on the top board. Fed up, it was clear resignation was the only option.

Next was Don against Tim Weir, again massively out graded, but Don wasn’t going to hide like a field mouse from any circling prey. Instead the two went toe to toe, squawking at each other with rooks and knights for talons and beaks. By the time the game settled into an end game Don was a pawn down and there wasn’t much that could be done to protect the vulnerable pawns from being picked off before they had a chance to learn how to fly.

It looked like Ringwood had Poole under their thumb (yes, it’s another bird reference, falconry, check out the etymology), but with the defaulted game, the match was still open.

Finally all our hopes rested on the young Ciaran. A player who managed two impressive wins in his first two games for the D Team, and now carrying an expectation with him, even against a player graded 134, soaring 39 points above Ciaran’s estimated grade. The middle game led to rooks and queens staring across the board at each other with Ciaran somehow having a passed pawn stuck in the middle of it, floating on the updrafts and ready to dive in to cause mayhem. The threats and pressures resolved with Poole being a knight up. With Ringwood having only a pawn compensation, there was only so much a single Bishop could do to make amends and with some astute play, Ciaran claimed the win to draw the match.

Thank you to Ringwood, a pleasure as always, and sorry for all the puns (my count is 11)!